Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:49:01 -0700
Reply-To: Joel Cort <joel_cort@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joel Cort <joel_cort@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Thank you and (long) write-up on Westies at Watkins 2010 event
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LONG WRITE-UP ....
Thank you to all who participated and made the 9th annual Westies at Watkins
campout a great success! This was a record breaking event with 100 VW
enthusiast coming to this camping event.
Where does the time go? It has been two weeks already since we had a fabulous
camping event once again at Watkins Glen NY. It was one of the most perfect
weekends that I can recall for this campout. No rain, no wind, no hurricane
blow-by just warm sunny days and comfortable nights. The event officially kicks
off on Friday but by Thursday night there were already 25 vans settled in at our
camping loop. The campground loop is reserved for our bunch and we quickly
filled all available spots with sometimes as many as 3 and 4 vans loosely
camping somewhere near a picnic bench. The rangers were pretty cool and so was
our group.
By Saturday night I counted 100 VW Vehicles participating in this premier
campout. Numerous Vanagons, EuroVans, Bays and Splitties, a few Bugs and even
two Rialtas and one Vista. Some tear-drop trailers were also in tow. We even
had 7 Vanagon Syncro models this year and many Subaru and Ford Zetec-powered
vans participating in the event.
Saturday morning the entire group was treated to the Empire VW Camping Club’s
version of “breakfast burritos”. Thanks to Dave & Mary for initiating and
coordinating the cooking efforts. Thanks to all others who volunteered and
pitched in with the cooking or donated something to share. We all had a fabulous
meal that couldn’t be beat.
With all of the activities and options offered in the area with museums,
antiquing, wine tasting, car racing etc. it is always difficult to determine
which activity to do because you want to do them all. Saturday was also a
beautiful sunny day making all activities enjoyable. Three activity groups got
quickly established: 1) stick around the campground and hike the Glen 2)
caravan to the Curtis Museum (www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org) in nearby
Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. 3) caravan visit the MacKenzie-Childs
(www.mackenzie-childs.com) factory and artisan’s studio in Aurora NY around
Cayuga Lake.
Some decided to hike the glen to view the water falls and enjoy the beauty of
the Watkins Glen. Others weary campers, kicked back at camp and enjoyed the
warm autumn day. Thanks Frank, for leading the group to the Curtis Museum in
search of antique motorcycles and wineries. Thank you Rita, for leading the
ladies auxiliary to visit MacKenzie-Childs show room. The afternoon also allowed
the remaining campers to visit to local town while others relaxed at camp.
Before the pot-luck dinner events at the pavilion, Rick the Juggler once again
entertained the children and pleasing the crowd with his juggling acts, tricks
and playing with fire. Thanks again Rick for a fine display of your talents.
The crowd was at capacity in the pavilion to enjoy the pot-luck meal. Everyone
had plenty to eat with some pretty decent camping food to bat. We concluded the
evening with some excellent door prizes to give away as raffle gifts. A huge
thanks to all door prizes contributors including the following:
· The Bus Depot
· GoWesty
· Van-Café
· Condelli and Associates
· Wolfsbürg-West,
· Wolfgang International
· The Samba
· Mid-America Motorworks
· Sewfine
· Griots Garage
· Bostig
· LiMBO
· VW Club of Central NY
· Empire VW Camping Club
Special note and thanks goes out the original art work commemorating the 9th
event done by Mark Lund and the T-shirt design. I still have a few T shirts
available if anyone is interested and can print additional ones upon request.
On Sunday about 50 vans caravanned to go onto the racetrack on the
Thunder Road Tours (www.theglen.com). We were led onto the track behind the
pace vehicle. The strategy for the Zetec and Suby powered vans was to hang at
the end of the line and be able to zoom at any desired speed. Well that was an
open invitation to go full throttle and race the new Bostig 2010 version. There
was nothing better than three Zetec-powered Vanagons screeching around the turns
while passing the slow pokes. One of the Zetec-powered van even had a video cam
at ground level filming the road so be on the lookout on YouTube for that.
Some of the pictures are available for viewing at the following link:
http://www.limbobus.org/phpBB4/album_cat.php?cat_id=140
It was really nice to see old friends again and to make new friends at this
event. Some were missed and remembered. Recently, Andrew Grebneff passed away.
Andrew was an enthusiast and strong supporter of SVX-powered Vanagon, active on
the Subaru conversion forum. I have decided to donate the 50/50 money raised at
this event to the Andrew Grebneff Memorial fund to help his widow. Thank you
Doug Alcock for also donating your half of the 50/50 winnings for the cause.
A big thank you for Phil the web master, who relentlessly maintains the web site
content and gets the photographers to post their pictures. Without Phil we
would not have such a great LiMBO site www.limbobus.org/ and our own
www.westies-at-watkins.org websites.
In closing this long report, I want to personally thank all of the members of
the Empire VW Camping Club (www.empirevwcamping.org) who contributed and donated
their time, effort and planning to keep making this event a success. The success
is represented by the 100 VW campers present for the campout.
Everyone was accommodated, no engine fires, no speeding tickets, no breakdowns
getting there,… Wait, wait. There were several issues that I know of for some
folks heading home. Gord got towed to Rochester and waited for a new oil pump
to get installed in his Vanagon. Sue and Andy also had a minor roadside issue
heading back to Syracuse. Karl also had fan belt issues heading back to Ottawa.
Luckily Markus was not too far behind to come to the rescue. Overall a perfect
campout for the 9th year of the Westies at Watkins event.
Joel Cort – jcort@rochester.rr.com
Camp counselor
Rochester NY.
89 Syncro Westy
87 Syncro Transporter (Stella)
73 Westy Campmobile (agent orange)
Founding Member of the Empire VW Camping Club & Westies at Watkins
Western New York LiMBO Respresentative www.limbobus.org
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